Preschool Story Time, 8/29

This is already my second week on my Fall schedule, even though Fall still feels like a long way off. This story time was formerly a Family Story Time, but it didn't really draw in families, so I changed it slightly and have shifted the focus to preschoolers. And though I only had five kids in the target age range today, this was one of the best story times I have ever done. The kids - three boys and two girls - sat on our new little stools right in front of me, and they hung on my every word, doing everything I asked, and actually lamenting the end of story time when it came. It is programs like this that make me love this job, and that make all the other dramas of working in libraries seem worth it. Here is what we did:

Opening Song: Hello, how are you? 
 
Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

Book: What the Ladybug Heard  by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Lydia Monks (2010)
This is the story of how the small and silent ladybug alerts the farm animals to a criminal plot to steal the prize cow, and engages all the animals in a plot to thwart the theft. The boys, especially, laughed non-stop at the animals each making each other's sounds.

Rhyme: Blue is the Lake (three times)
I had this idea in my head that rhymes were best for babies and toddlers, but that has not been the case these past two weeks. The older kids love having someone to mimic, and they catch on well enough to repeat the rhyme on their own later on. I had the two wildest boys who have been disrupting my story time with running and shouting and name-calling for months, sitting there calm as can be doing this rhyme.

Rhyme: This is Big, Big, Big (twice)
"This is fast fast fast" was definitely the most thrilling part of this rhyme for my group.

Song: Hands Are For Clapping

Book: Prudence Wants a Pet by Cathleen Daly, illustrated by Stephen Michael King (2011)
This group was a little young to get all the jokes in this book, but once I started pointing out the funny parts and encouraging them to think about whether branches, twigs, and baby brothers would make good pets or not, they laughed themselves silly.

Song: Turn Around

Flannel Board Rhyme: Knock Knock! (from  Good For You! Toddler Rhymes for Toddler Times by Stephanie Calmenson)
This was the breakout hit of the day. I started out saying knock, knock and asking the kids to say who's there, but by our third time through (they asked me to do it again!), they were saying knock, knock, and trying to name all the relatives themselves. I was nervous when they didn't laugh after the first time through, but they quickly got into it after the second time. We'll be doing this one many more times in the future, I hope!

Song: Tommy Thumb

Goodbye Song: We Wave Goodbye Like This

The nicest thing about this session? I didn't have a single complaint about skipping The Wheels on the Bus, ABCD Medley, and Chickadee. It's nice to have one story time, at least, where I can get away without doing them! I'll work on the Tuesday group next...

A full description of this, and all my weekly story time programs can be found here.